Higgins Hardware is set to close Jan. 31 and the Higgins family is having a 40 percent-off sale of everything in the building, from the kitchenware down to the vintage $600 nail and screw bin. The store is open seven days a week: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. Customers are welcome to come in with their morning coffee mugs and visit a while, too.

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The Burma-shave-type window signs have long since come down.

The popcorn maker’s motor a decade ago made its last go-round.

The energy to run a small business has faded with time.

Higgins Hardware is ready to say goodbye.

It’s a sad ending to an iconic American story, one of living the dream, taking part in a bit of small town business for 36 years and becoming a cog in a community’s wheel.

Rollie and Mary Higgins are calling it quits on the family business at 1114 28th Ave. in Greeley after a troubled year of health problems and time marching on.

“I’m 75 years old, and it’s time to hang it up. After this year, I’m tired,” said Rollie Higgins, discussing his reasons for selling his building and the need to liquidate his huge inventory.

Confined to a wheel chair with the exception of one hour a day on a prosthetic, Higgins has spent the past year battling kidney and circulation troubles that necessitated a partial amputation of his leg.

His wife, Mary, doesn’t yet want to think about the day they turn the keys over to the new owners, who plan to open a NAPA Auto Parts store.

For now, they’re consumed with emptying the shelves and delivering a bare-bones store by Jan. 31.

From Gingerbread cookie cutters and kitchenware, to Christmas lights, to nails and screws by the bin, to paints and stains and tools galore, all need to go.

The Higginses need to liquidate, and they’re doing it with a 40 percent-off sale.

But Mary’s thoughts linger on the lifetime of memories.

Last week, she found a stack of papers containing all the personally created “Burma shave” type signs she would post on the building’s windows, touting the merriment of the seasons, store sales and promotions, even chronicling her children’s achievements through the years.

“It was like finding an old friend,” said Mary, sitting at a stool at the sales counter, noting it had been a good five years since she’s seen them. “It was part of me.”

Rollie Higgins bought the two-year-old building Nov. 15, 1977. He was an insurance salesman and simply had his fill. He had some rentals and some friends in real estate, and he had some knowledge of electrical and plumbing work. He happily took over the store from the previous owners, who knew nothing about the industry.

Immediately, he set to calling on customers, including the Monforts of Greeley, who back in the day operated the meatpacking plant.

“I used to go there every single morning, and if they needed anything, I’d write it down and take it back to them,” Higgins said. “That’s exactly how we got started.”

Through the years, the store became second nature.

“If you ask me, I could take you anywhere because it was my department,” Higgins said. “It’s not like the big box stores where they say, ‘I don’t know. That’s not my department.’ ”

In the early days, Mary was at home taking care of the family. One day, her husband needed some part-time help behind the counter.

“I’ve been here since,” she said, with a pride that would have made Betty Friedan proud. “I was known for knowing where everything was. I was able to tell you if we had it, and where it was. The guys couldn’t tell you.”

For the past 11 years, the Higgins family has been joined by Bailey, a yellow lab who today plods from one sunbeam to the next — really anywhere underfoot — except when kids come to the store, and he lights up.

“I don’t know how he knows, but a kid can just get out of a car and he knows he’s there,” Higgins said.

Both are a little sad, maybe Mary more than Rollie.

It’s like saying goodbye to an old friend, or being transferred to a new position after years of doing the same thing. There’s some grieving yet to do.

“We’re going to miss a whole lot of our customers. We’ve had some really neat, regular customers,” Rollie said. “You hate to turn them out to the wolves.”

But there just comes a time when working seven days a week isn’t the best for an aging body, he said.

“We’ve had a good time,” he said, shaking his head, “but 35 years of walking on concrete, and the last year has not been good to me. When it’s time to say goodbye to the brutal concrete floors and snuff out the lights one last time, well, they just don’t know.”

Rollie is already getting ready to go fishing. He’s called a friend in Texas to fish for crappie.

Mary won’t think beyond the door of the store just yet. She points to the pages of sayings she created through her love of writing.